Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Day 193 - The sun is out!

Cienfuegos

We awoke to blue skies and Cienfuegos suddenly started to look more inviting. First order of business was sorting out our onward travel, so we walked to the bus station. On the way the streets were full of people going about their daily business, the taxi service for the locals was horses and carts, there were people selling all sorts of things from the back of their bike, which along with those on electric scooters created a strange mix of old and new. There weren't quite as many of the classic cars that we'd seen in other towns, but they were still around.


At the bus station the ticket office was closed. The timetable posted on the wall indicated that the bus didn't leave until the afternoon, so as we wanted to get away earlier we arranged spots in a shared taxi with a man standing out the front - the things you do in foreign countries that you wouldn't even consider at home, for all we know the guy could have been a scam artist or serial killer. However no money had changed hands at this point so we thought we were pretty safe.

We then walked all the way along the Malecon to Punta Gorda, with its mixture of architectural styles, ranging from grand French style buildings to a 1950s style American hotel next door to another building straight out of the Arabian Nights. As we walked, in the distance we could see the dome of the unfinished nuclear power plant, which is 90% complete but with the breakup of the Soviet Union who were fundng the construction was never completed.


The yacht club had the best spot on the bay and was full of bus loads of day trippers there for a buffet lunch, if you're looking for a free lunch it would be very easy to blend in and join the queue. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the town centre. we could have spent less time here as in the 24 hours we'd been here we'd pretty much seen all there is to see, save for a couple of small museums.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Day 192 - Who'll stop the rain?

Viñales to Cienfuegos

We woke up at 6am with rain still falling, so we had to drag our luggage to the bus terminal in the dark and wet. It continued to rain throughout our trip to Cienfuegos, but at least the bus was comfortable and the road was good. It was surprising how little traffic there was, it was almost as if only tourist vehicles were allowed on the road, though we did see the occasional car, truck, and horse & cart.

We had hoped that we could put some distance between ourselves and the rain, but it was still going when we arrived in Cienfuegos. By late afternoon it had slowed down a bit, so we braved the elements and went for a wander around town with our umbrellas handy. The city was pretty deserted and a bit drab looking, and after three days of heat in Havana followed by two days of almost constant rain we were feeling a bit down about Cuba, wondering if our trip was turning into a washout. We suppose this might be payback for thinking we could get away with travelling in the wet season, we'd been pretty lucky so far with only one bad day in Costa Rica.

Having said all that, the city did look quite nice, the French influence showing in the buildings around the main square and along the Prado, which is the main street that follows the edge of the bay. Hopefully the weather would improve tomorrow!


The prices in Cuba are generally quite cheap, even the really nice places we'd been booking to stay in were AU$30-40 a night. Restaurant prices were also good, even at "tourist" restaurants we'd seen cocktails for 2CUC, amd only 3-4CUC for some main courses. It may be expensive to get to Cuba but once you're there you can have a pretty cheap holiday, though transport between towns can be expensive if you stick to the tourist transport (like we did).


Monday, August 29, 2016

Day 191 - Washed out and smoked out

Viñales

All night we could hear rain bucketing down and it was still falling heavily when we went for breakfast around 9am. We were told that our walking tour of the tobacco and coffee farms had been cancelled, but we could still pay a visit to the tobacco farm as it was close to town. We asked our host again about our transport the next day, whether it was arranged, when we would be picked up, and what the cost would be, and were told it would be sorted today.

We were picked up by a small taxi (not a "classic" car this time), and were told that our guide would be the boyfriend of the host's daughter, who didn't speak English .... in fact he didn't speak much at all. We were dropped off a couple of kilometres out of town and the end of a very waterlogged driveway, which had a pretty constant stream of water flowing down and out onto the road. We followed our "guide" a fair way along a track clogged with water and a rich, thick red mud. There was no way a car could have gone up there, we had enough trouble walking.

We arrived wet and muddy at a shed where a few tobacco farmers were sitting, but they didn't seem to pleased to see us, it was apparent that they weren't expecting us (or anybody else). There was a bit of discussion between the boyfriend and the "boss" farmer, after which we were then taken into the drying shed. The farmer launched into his  spiel (in Spanish) on the tobacco growing and drying process, which he directed solely at M, K's existence was almost ignored, which is par the for the course in much of South and Central America - too bad K is the one that understands Spanish! At the end of the talk we were given the chance to puff on a cigar, dipped in honey to supposedly soften the harshness of the smoke. Even then one puff was more than enough. Then there was a pretty low key sales pitch for us to buy some cigars. In Australia only individually wrapped cigars can be brought in, and in very limited quantities, but these were straight from the farm, so we declined. After that it was back along the trail in the rain (the stream was practically a river by this stage). We were disappointed that we hadn't really got to see that much, can't do much about the weather though.

Back at the casa we spent some time cleaning our shoes, and asked again about our transport, still no info. Into town for lunch then, including some pina coladas, it was still raining so it looked like we wouldn't be doing much else today. At our lunch place they had a system where a bottle of rum is left on your table with your drink so you can add it as much as you like to your pina colada, we were very responsible of course - adding rum at least three more times as we took sips from our drink.


After lunch and some more time wandering around town in the rain we went back to our casa to finalise our transport details, but nothing had been arranged and there was just a vague indication that it would cost us 45CUC per person and that we might leave at 10am.  We decided at this point we'd take matters into our own hands. In town we found that a shared taxi was 35CUC each, but we opted for the 7am bus at 32CUC for the 7 hour trip. Sure it left early and wasn't door to door, but we knew that the bus would be much more comfortable than the shared taxi we had taken to get to Viñales. While we were in the queue the lady from the casa found us and finally gave us the taxi info, but at her price of 40CUC it just wasn't worth it, we didn't see any point in giving the casa any more money than we had to, as it was obvious they were skimming off the top on the taxi fares.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Day 190 - Dinosaurs and cavemen

Havana to Viñales

We were collected from our apartment at 12pm, only about 30 minutes late for our shared taxi to Viñales. It was an old "classic" car, with bench seats. There were already three Austrians in the back, so we had to squeeze into the front seat with the driver. The driver was a big guy though, meaning we were really crunched in, with K needing to put her shoulder under M's to get some comfort.

We arrived in Viñales around 3pm and checked in for our first stay at a Casa Particulare. These are the most common accommodation in Cuba, at home we'd probably call them B&Bs, they're basically spare rooms in people's homes with an ensuite and air-conditioning, with breakfast and dinner available but at an additional cost.

Home sweet home
The host and her English speaking daughter were very quick to ask if we wanted breakfast and 
dinner, and we sort of felt obligated and also wanted to try out some Cuban home cooking so we agreed. They also gave us an overview of the sightseeing options that were available, so we decided to do a walking tour the next day to some nearby tobacco and coffee plantations. We had been told that the casas will also arrange ongoing transportation, so we requested that of the host as well.

We walked the couple of blocks into town and were just in time for the last trip for the day of the local hop-on/hop-off bus tour. The highlights were the Los Jazmines hotel, near the edge of an escarpment with some great views of the valley and mountains around town, and the Mural de la Prehistoria, a huge and quite hideous painting on a rock wall, with badly drawn dinosaurs alongside primitive looking human beings, in blue, green, red and yellow paint. Not sure whose idea it was to deface the rock wall like this, but from our perspective they should have kept the paint to brighten up their house exteriors....


The home cooked dinner at our casa was roast chicken with rice and beans, acceptable but uninspiring. It was also much more expensive at 10CUC per person than the restaurant dinners we'd had in Havana - tomorrow we'll eat out! (We have since heard you can negotiate with your casa over the price of dinner, if only we'd known).

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Day 187 to Day 189 - Havana a great time

Havana

Day 187

Where we are staying in the suburb of Vedado isn't too far from the Havana Libre hotel (the former Hilton) where Fidel Castro first stayed when he entered Havana.

We caught the open topped tourist bus from there, and hopped off at Central Park where there were heaps of classic cars parked, all there as "taxis" for the tourists, We watched the salsa dancing for a while, then then walked down Calle Obispo, the "main" street with lots of restaurants and shops. We knew we'd found an internet shop when we saw the long queue down the street. In Cuba the internet is provided via a card, 2 CUC for an hour (1 CUC = US$1), which you then use at a wifi hotspot - these are easy to tell by the large numbers of people staring at their phones. We joined the queue and waited about 30 minutes before giving up, based on the rate we calculated it would be another hour or so before the eight people in front of us had their turn.

After wandering through town we visited the Museum of the Revolution. They say the winners get to write the history, so of course this was all told from the view of Castro, with lots of anti-US commentary interspersed in the exhibits and photos related to the Cuban revolution.


After that we hopped back on the bus and took the ride away from the city centre and along the waterfront, where wasn't much hopping on or off though, in the next two hours it only stopped about three times. It was a great way to see Havana, although very hot in the scorching heat, but at least we didn't have to walk around in it.


Back at Central Park the bus did a short loop along the Malecon in the other direction, giving us a view of the old city and the waterfront. We had met two English girls on the bus earlier in the day, we saw them again on the bus in the afternoon and they told us of their adventures - they'd been "befriended" by a scam artist who convinced them he was the son of the owner of the casa they were staying in. By the time he'd finished with them, he and his accomplices in the bar they had been taken to (who looked like normal patrons but were all apparently in on the scam) had extracted about $200 from them. They finished up their story by adding "we're not telling our parents"!

Day 188

Our nice little Airbnb has a kitchen so we decided to check out the shopping options that our host Yuri had shown us. First was the "farmers market" -   a couple of small shopfronts with hanging slabs of meat covered in flies, and unidentifiable mounds of vegetables in the corner. Next stop was the supermarket where M was told to leave, since he was carrying a bag. The shelves there were worse than what we'd seen on Easter Island - various cans of odds and ends, none of which appealed to us (canned beans for dinner anyone?). There was plenty of alcohol though (not sure what that says about Cuban priorities), perhaps that's what they thought we might shoplift? We had been told it is hard buying food in Cuba, and from what we'd seen we can definitely agree. The restaurants we'd seen seemed to have a reasonable selection of meals, so the food must be out there somewhere, but perhaps not generally available from shops?


We also had to arrange our ongoing travel out of Havana, our hosts weren't really able to help us so we ended up visiting one of larger Casa Particulares in the old city, where the owner helped us get a spot in a shared taxi to Viñales.

We then had lunch at the famous Sloppy Joes, which was a really popular and cheap bar (and apparently also quite dirty, hence the name "sloppy") back in the early to mid 20th century, followed by a visit to the Hotel Nacional for mojitos in a nice spot with a view of the ocean.


Day 189

We took a taxi to the San Jose market in the old city down by the waterfront, disappointingly though it all seemed to be mass produced kitsch (including hundreds of paintings of classic cars in front of old buildings). We then revisited the casa we'd booked our shared taxi through to pay and confirm the pickup time.

By this time it was getting very hot, so it was back to the airconditioned comfort of Sloppy Joes for lunch. We finished the afternoon with a visit to the Museo de la Ciudad which was housed in an old home complete with baroque European furniture and ornaments, as well as the now familiar photos and stories of Fidel Castro and his revolution, followed by a stop at Plaza Vieja (the Old Square).


Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Day 186 - Take me to the August sun in Cuba

Cancun (Mexico) to Havana (Cuba)

We returned our rental car to the airport, being very careful not to exceed the 70kph speed limit. Too bad none of the other drivers on the road were as conscious of the road rules as we now were, we were by far the slowest car on the road! Where was Constable Hernandez now .... probably at home sipping on tequilas bought with his ill gotten gains.

We joined the Havana queue at the Interjet desk and waited while the passengers were slowly checked in, when it was finally our turn we were asked for our Cuban visas. We thought we would get them at the check-in desk, but we had to go to different desk - thanks for letting us know guys, maybe you could consider putting up a sign? M went to sort the visas while K waited at the desk, 500 pesos later we had our visas and were ready to check in to our flight.

In the queue with us were lots of Cubans, bringing in all sorts of luggage and equipment, it was like a freight terminal, not a passenger terminal. Air conditioners and rubber tyres seeming to be the most popular.

The flight left on time and was only an hour or so. Getting through immigration at the other end was easy, there was a short wait for our luggage but it wasn't too bad, and customs was a breeze. We were met by Yuri from our hostal, who took us and our luggage to a bright purple 1959 Ford which we rode into town in, arriving in the suburb of Vedado about 40 minutes later.


Our hostal was an apartment in an old building, it looked like the rest of the housing in the block was occupied by locals, but this hostal was very nicely decorated, with lounge, kitchen and washing machine - perfect! Yuri showed us around the neighborhood, including where we could change money and then left us to our own devices.

We caught a taxi into the old town Havana Vieja about a 10 minute drive away, where we met Ken and Cally, a Tasmanian couple who write the blog at dodgyknees.com, who have been on a similar trip to us though in a slightly different order, so we had been exchanging information for a while. We had a nice dinner (including more cheap lobster for K), as we traded travel hints and stories about Cuba and Central America.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Day 185 - Highway robbery!

Cancun

We hired a car for the day so we could go to Tulum, which we had missed last time we were in Mexico, and we timed the 24 hour rental so we could use the car to get to the airport the next day.

We collected the car around 10am, then paid another visit to the ATM to withdraw even more cash for our Cuba trip, and convert the withdrawn pesos to Euros. We were on our way back to our hotel when we were pulled over by the police. We were supposedly speeding and liable for a hefty fine (though we were going slower than the buses and other cars), but if we paid (bribed) the police around $50 we could continue on our way, and not have to visit to the police station the next day. As we weren't really sure of our options we paid up, but really felt like we'd been robbed. After looking into it all later, it seems this sort of thing happens a lot, and what we should have done was just called their bluff and opted for the official fine, apparently if you can string the discussion along for long enough they realise they won't get any bribe money and let you off so they can chase down another poor victim.


Subdued by the second bribe of our life (the other was on our trip to Goa), we drove to Tulum to check out the ruins on the edge of the ocean, with beautiful views to the ocean and a nice little (and crowded) beach. The site is quite small and walled on two sides, with the ocean acting as a third wall. The ocean was a brilliant view and very inviting, as it was also very hot.


After Tulum we drove to Playa del Carmen. We had visited the area on our last trip to Mexico but we were still surprised at how happening and different it was to Cancun. The beach in Cancun is beautiful, whereas the Playa del Carmen beach is not so nice, but the town has a very different feel to Cancun, with lots of restaurants and people out and about. In retrospect we should have spent our time here rather than in Cancun, Playa del Carmen is more our style.

Playa del Carmen

Monday, August 22, 2016

Day 183 to 184 - I need more cash, don't cancel my card!

Cancun

We were staying in the hotel zone in Cancun, a stretch which consists of shoulder to shoulder resorts and hotels along the length of the peninsula, but with gorgeous beaches and views.

K was still heavily restricted, her leg and back are badly bruised, with the bruising and swelling spreading to her ankle, it would be difficult to imagine a leg more swollen and bruised without breaking a bone! Fortunately there is a pretty good bus system in Cancun, we never had to wait more than a minute for a bus to come by, and there are so many that they seem to race each other down the road, overtaking each other as they appear to compete to collect the most passengers, we were wondering if they get paid according to how many passengers they have.

Fresh lobster at the supermarket!

We spent some time on our travel arrangements to Cuba, including withdrawing cash and getting it changed into Euros. We were told that Euros are the way to go as there is a 10% hit on changing from US dollars in Cuba. There are some ATMs in Cuba, but our travel/credit cards (Citibank and 28 Degreess) are from American owned companies, so they won't work in Cuba at all. We ended up making multiple trips to the ATM over a few days to get what we needed, and at one stage there was a frantic call to Australia to one bank as they had blocked one of the cards over what appeared to be a dubious transaction.

We were also able to book our accommodation in Cuba via Airbnb as many of the "Casa Particulares" are listed along with photos and reviews. One big advantage of Airbnb here was that as everything is paid for over the internet, so at least accommodation was something we didn't need to bring cash for.


It wasn't all travel preparation though, the ocean looked very inviting so we did spend a little bit of time on the beach, the beach is so long and wide that it wasn't crowded at all, and the water was the perfect temperature for a bit of swimming.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Day 182 - Squashed into a boat, then squashed into a car

San Pedro (Belize) to Cancun (Mexico)

We could have easily spent a couple more days on Ambergris Caye but we were now on a schedule with our flight to Cuba in a few days, so we had to keep moving. There is no doubt that travelling without a fixed schedule is a better way to go, as you never really know until you get to a place how long you need to spend. Today was another long travelling day, with boat and land travel needed to reach our destination of Cancun.


The first leg was the water taxi to Chetumal in Mexico, this was a nice trip of about an hour in a pretty full boat, speeding across the water between Belize and Mexico. There was a bit of mucking around at each end with border formalities - exit fees in Belize, entry fees in Mexico, and some time in Chetumal while everyone's luggage was checked by a strangely incompetent sniffer dog who kept trying to leave the luggage area.


We then paid for a shuttle to take us to Cancun, but weren't able to leave until enough passengers had come through customs to fill it. As it turns out there weren't enough people, so after about half an hour we were squashed into a taxi with another couple. The plus side was that the car was much quicker than the shuttle, making it to Cancun in much less than the five hours we were expecting, but it wasn't the most comfortable trip. We were delivered right to our hotel though, and once there we settled into our fourth floor room overlooking the beach and ocean.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Day 180 to 181 - Great place if you like lobster

San Pedro, Belize

As K wasn't too mobile after yesterday's escapades the time we spent in San Pedro was generally pretty quiet. We worked on the arrangements for our trip to Cuba, internet in Cuba is scarce and generally poor (we'd been told) so we were aiming to have as much as possible lined up before we arrived i.e. flights, accommodation, and also cash, since ATMs are limited.and credit cards aren't accepted.

We did still manage to get out and about a few times, there were some shopping trips for groceries and supplies, and on the second day we were able to walk (slowly) along the beach into town, past more evidence of the effects of Hurricane Earl.


We had a nice dinner on the last night at a beachside restauarant, where K had a tasty Lobster Thermidor, which was so large she couldn't finish it - lobster is plentiful and cheap here.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Day 179 - Glad we missed the hurricane

San Ignacio to San Pedro

The aftermath of yesterday's adventure was that K was grazed along the length of her arm and leg, she was also very bruised on her back, arm, thigh and calf, so she had some difficulty getting about. By taking it slowly though we were able to make the short walk to our bus for Belize City.

The bus service was great for us, it took us directly to the ferry port in Belize City (which seems to indicate there doesn't seem to be much else to see in Belize City), then it was just a short walk to board the ferry. The first stop for the ferry was Caye Caulker where lots of people disembarked, we stayed on all the way through to the small town of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. As we pulled in to port the damage from Hurricane Earl was obvious with smashed piers and debris everywhere.


Our apartment was right on the beach about a kilometre from the port, and given K's condition it was just what we needed, with a great view and close to shops. Our plan here was to get our Cuba arrangements well underway or even finished, given that we really needed to have pretty much all of our travel and accommodation sorted before we left for Cuba in about a week's time.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Day 178 - Into the depths

San Ignacio / Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM)

It was about an hour's drive to the national park that ATM is in, the way went through Mennonite country, they are similar to the Amish, hard working farming people that follow a simple traditional way of living, though they do use technology. The land we drove through included plenty of corn/maize, as well as plantations of teak and mahogany that wouldn't mature for at least 30 years..

We were set up with our helmets and life jackets (and without cameras, as they weren't allowed at all) and set off for the 4km walk to the cave entrance. Within two minutes we had a river crossing to make, so we used the rope strung between the banks to haul ourselves  across. The water level was higher than usual, due to the rain brought by Hurricane Earl. The eye of the storm had passed through here, and the damage that had been done was amazing to see, fallen trees and debris everywhere, the effects of the storm had closed the caves for 15 days and they had only reopened four days ago, as it had taken that long to clear the track using a large team of workers who were still there.

We reached the mouth of the cave and attached our head lamps, then started the swim in. We climbed over and under large rocks until we reached what they call "the neck slicer", a rock at neck height with a defined edge with a gap above it just big enough to fit your head through. We had to turn and position our head and neck just right, then turn our head at right angles so we could get through the next gap. All of this was done while we were in waist deep water, and as as we travelled through the cave the water in places was even deeper, needing us to swim to move forward. The whole trip through the caves was incredible fun and nothing like anything we have done before.


Along the way we were shown different cave formations and points of archaeological interest. After some time we climbed up a series of boulders where we were told to remove our shoes, it was socks only from this point. It was explained to us and we quickly saw that there were Mayan artifacts embedded and scattered throughout the floor, so by wearing socks the idea was that we would be more careful to watch where we stepped so as not to damage anything. This relates to the reason that cameras aren't allowed, over the years two tourists had dropped their cameras and ended up breaking skulls and pots.

We were nearly at the end where we would get to see the the "Crystal Maiden", all we needed to do was climb up a few rocks and go up a ladder. It was at this point that K slipped and fell quite badly, heavily "bouncing" off a ledge and rocks ending up further down. This was probably the only point in the journey where you could fall this far down onto solid rock, so of course that's where K fell!


K knew that nothing was broken but she was very messed up after hitting those rocks and falling so far, she could just stand but was in a lot of pain. As if that wasn't bad enough, we the only way out was to retrace our steps to the entrance. It was slow going and tricky at times but we eventually made it out of the cave, then tackled the four kilometres back to the car, wondering all the way about what would have happened if it had been worse, if there had been a broken bone?

We later learnt these types of injuries and worse have happened in these caves, more often than you would expect. The plus side of doing "adventure" activities in these countries is that you are allowed to experience things that would normally be considered unsafe back home, the other side of the coin though is that as they are unsafe you need to live with the consequences of doing these risky activities.

Overall though the experience was amazing and we highly recommend it .... just watch your footing at all times and don't fall over!

Note: As no cameras were allowed but we still want to give you some idea of what we saw, in this post I've used pictures from other websites:

  • http://www.sanpedrosun.com/environment/2011/07/25/actun-tunichil-muknal-is-one-of-10-top-sacred-caves/
  • http://www.jmbelizetravel.com/actun-tunichil-muknal.html
  • http://dfwgrotto.org/blog/oztotl.php/2010/03/09/actun-tunichil-muknal-cave-belize-dec-2009





Monday, August 15, 2016

Day 177 - And just like that we were back in the room

Flores (Guatemala) to San Ignacio (Belize)

We were told to be ready at 7 for a 7.30 pick up for our bus trip to Belize but of course it was after 8am by the time we got going, something we are so used to it barely registers with us but the German people who were also waiting were getting quite stressed, we told them that in nearly six months of travelling we have never been left behind.

Today's journey didn't take too long, we possibly spent more time on the border formalities crossing between Guatemala and Belize than sitting in the bus. We were in for a pleasant surprise when we reached Belize, if we'd done our homework we would have known this, but in Belize the official language is English (really? we are now speaking English?). Queen Elizabeth is the head of state and she has very similar powers as she does in Australia. There was even a sign painted on a building at the border with "Welcome Prince Harry".

Not many people got off in San Ignacio with us, most were travelling on to Belize City and beyond. It was an easy walk from where the bus dropped us off to our guest house in town. Once we settled in we walked down the street and found the agency recommended to us so we could book our visit to Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) the next day,

Looks much nicer on the inside
ATM is a large underground cave system that was used as a Mayan burial and ceremonial site, getting in to see the artefacts and skeletons can only be done with a guide, and requires hiking in to the site, crossing rivers along the way, then navigating the dark, water filled caverns and passages. Apparently there has been talk of closing it permanently to protect the artefacts (some have already been damaged by tourists), so even though it is known as being difficult we thought we'd better take this opportunity.



Sunday, August 14, 2016

Day 176 - A growler, not a howler

Flores / Tikal

We took a minibus for the hour and a half trip to the Mayan archaeological site of Tikal. We were armed with our copy of the Rough Guide on the phone and a map of the site from our hotel as we headed off to explore the ruins at 8am.

While it is a relatively large site is is also quite easily walkable and we could quickly see the similarities to Chichen Itza and Teotichuan that we had visited in Mexico some years ago. We followed the paths between the sets of pyramids and other ruins, some of the sites hadn't been fully uncovered so huge mounds were visible under which you could easily imagine there would be more pyramids.

We saw some spider monkeys early on in the day, and we were near the Perdido Mundo section when we heard the most tremendous noise coming from a little further ahead. We followed a guide who stopped at some trees, the noise was now so loud and ferocious that we wouldn't have been surprised if a large brown bear appeared. Up in the trees were two groups of howler monkeys, it's amazing how such small animals can make such incredibly loud, scary and deep noises, perhaps they would be more aptly named growler monkeys.


The weather was very hot and humid so we were delighted when a huge thunderstorm started just as we arrived back at the entrance gate. They have a stupid system with the buses where they only return to Flores at set times, 12.30pm and 3pm. There were lots of people waiting, with the shuttles parked nearby, but it was well after 3 before we finally started the drive back. You'd think it would be much better if each bus returned to Flores as soon as there are enough people to fill it, instead they all wait until they are all full, then all leave at the same time.




Saturday, August 13, 2016

Day 175 - The Guatemalan shuttle blues

Coban to Flores

Another poor shuttle ride - as we had been the first ones off in Coban two days ago, we were the last ones on today, everyone else had boarded in Semuc Champey and Lanquin. The good thing though is that we didn't have to get up early and endure a rough few hours getting to Coban, we'd done it all yesterday.

At one point we had to take a small car ferry across a river, and once we reached the town of Flores late in the afternoon we had to change buses to get to the small island where our hotel was. The island of Flores is tiny, about four blocks by four, connected to the mainland by a bridge. It's also very touristy but still very pleasant, with restaurants and hotels all along the waterfront with great views of the lake and the sunset.



Friday, August 12, 2016

Day 174 - "Where are the gringos?"

Coban / Semuc Champey

We spent some time yesterday trying to arrange a tour/transportation from Coban to Semuc Champey but hadn't been successful, the agency that our hotel arranged for us cancelled our booking at 9pm, so we had decided to make the trip using local transportation.

We were told the bus left every 30 minutes for Lanquin so a taxi dropped us off at a bus terminal at 8.15am. We promptly bought our tickets and hopped on to what we thought was the 8.30am bus. 8:30 came and went and we just sat there, we didn't really get going until closer to 10am. The minibus was also in poor condition and the road was really bad, so we didn't get to Lanquin until after 12pm.

We were hassled by touts trying to get us into a truck to Semuc Champey, one guy launched into some spiel about how we'd need a private trip blah blah blah, we told him to just tell us what the real price was, I guess they have to try to con us out of as much money as they can but it gets tiring having to "haggle" when the information on the going rates is readily available on the internet, and it was also obvious we'd come via local transport and hadn't arrived in an air conditioned tour bus with a tri-lingual guide, a bunch of middle aged Europeans and a packed lunch!

Semuc Champey is only 9km from Lanquin but it took almost an hour, the road is very steep and incredibly rough, even with some sections of it being paving for short distances.


The natural pools at Semuc are beautiful and we visited a few of them, trying not to fall over on the slippery rocks getting in and out of the pools. We spent a nice afternoon swimming and walking around, along with quite a number of other people who had braved the trip, most of whom must have been staying in Semuc Champey or Lanquin.


It wasn't long before we had to contemplate the long haul back to Cobán. We managed to get a spot immediately in a large truck with about 20 others, Two people sat on the roof, K sat in "luxury" in the front next to the driver, while M stood in the back while the other 18 people there had seats -  so much for respecting your elders and giving up your seat! As soon as we arrived in Lanquin we were lucky enough to immediately jump on a bus for Cobán.

Looks inviting!
On the way back a strange man insisted on chatting to M in Spanish, even though we told him multiple times it was too loud and difficult for us to speak, then once we finally arrived in Cobán he insisted on being our "guide" to take us to our hotel, even though we showed him we had a map and knew exactly where we were going. In return for this he wanted M to buy him a beer for providing this unwanted service (by now we'd figured he was probably the town drunk), we managed to evade him by ducking into our hotel via a side door. When K went down to reception to get our key he was there as well, asking the guy at the the counter "where are the gringos", not even recognising K who was standing right next to him!

Was it worth the three trip one way, most of the time on shocking roads, for a day trip to Semuc Champey? In K's opinion the answer is "no", even though the place is very beautiful and unique, six hours of travel for a few hours of swimming isn't a good enough exchange - but if we hadn't done it we'd still be wondering what we'd missed!






Thursday, August 11, 2016

Day 173 - Dumped again

Panajachel to Cóban 

Another day, another shuttle bus ride ... we had been dreading our trip today to Cóban as the shuttle from Antigua had been so poor, but as our hotel was right on the edge of town we were collected first and had the pick of the seats, meaning we also had control of a window and access to fresh air - very important! The shuttle was also fairly new and had decent leg room, everyone that got on sounded pleasantly surprised. For a while there we thought we were going to have a very nice trip, but we should have known better! An hour or so into our nine hour trip we made a stop at Chichicastenango, where we picked up more people, so out came the folded seats and once again we were back to being crammed in, though not as badly as in the last shuttle.

Along the way there was one stop for toilets/food, and we arrived at the McDonalds in Cóban (to squeals of delight from some of the passengers on the shuttle) around 5pm, and the driver said there would be a 30 minute stop before the shuttle continued on to Lanquin. The problem though was that Cóban was our stop, and we had been told when we bought the ticket that we would be taken to our hotel - wrong again! The driver refused to take us to our hotel about 2km away, and he also declined to remove our luggage from the top of the bus so we could make our own way. Did he really think that a) we wanted to eat at McDonalds, or b) we were happy to sit and wait while everyone had something to eat?

Coban ... just another intricate front to a plain church
M climbed up onto the roof and started untying the rope and tarp to get our luggage, after a few minutes the driver came out shaking his head, but at least we had forced the driver's hand, he climbed up and gave us our luggage and we caught a taxi to our hotel.




Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Day 172 - A spiritual journey

Panajachel

We walked down to the wharf to figure out how the transportation around the lakes work, there wasn't much in the way of signs or information. Our plan was to spend the day visiting the towns around the lake, so we hopped on the first boat heading to Santa Cruz. When the boat arrived at the next jetty there wasn't much there and only one person got off, so we stayed on until we arrived at somewhere more interesting. Lake Atitlan and its towns are picture postcard beautiful and many of the stops along the way were at lovely resort type places, or what appeared to be gorgeous holiday homes.

At San Marcos we disembarked and wandered around the very small town for a while. It was getting warm and the town seemed pretty quiet, the main businesses appeared to be related to yoga, massage, natural healing, and other spiritual/holistic type disciplines - not really our thing, though I'm sure if we could make up develop a great new spiritual/healing technique I reckon we could make a killing!



After some time here M's chakra was telling him it was time to seek enlightenment elsewhere, so back at the jetty we took the next boat heading in the right direction and travelled to the larger town of San Pedro. Once there we wandered the streets looking for a place to have lunch and found a great place on the edge of the water.

After lunch we wanted to head to San Antonio, which was known for its ceramics. We were told the best way was to go back to Panajachel first. We took the express boat that went straight back across the lake rather than around the edges. Although much quicker this was a bit of a mistake, we thought it would be nice sitting at the front, but being a long way from the shore we missed the lovely views and on the way back the boat pounded the waves, so being at the front meant it was an extremely rough and uncomfortable trip.



Back in Pana we were told the only way to get to San Antonio was more than an hour by road, or by getting a private boat. We decided we didn't want to go that much and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the town and the waterfront. We did find a shop that sold the ceramics from San Antonio, they were nice enough but not really worth the additional effort of travelling to the town, so it looks like we made the right decision.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Day 171 - Just like sardines

Antigua to Panajachel

Finally a civilized pick up time of 12.30 for our shuttle to Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan. The pick up time might have been civilized but the shuttle certainly wasn't, we were all crammed in with every space filled up. Some of the younger guys were quite tall, so no one had a good experience, except maybe our luggage which was given the prime seats behind the driver rather than being put on the roof. For some reason the driver drove down the same streets more than once while picking up new passengers, our last stop before departing was the place next door to where the first passengers were collected!

We had been told it was a door to door shuttle but after an uncomfortable trip we were dumped at the wharf and even though we pointed out that our hotel was only two kilometres away we were left on the side of the road. After a couple of taxi drivers tried to get us to pay more than the rate we had been told by our hotel, we eventually squeezed into a tuk-tuk (interesting that they have the same name in Asia, we always presumed it was an Asian name) and made it to our hotel on the very edge of town. After checking in we walked into down and down to the waterfront to admire the view and check out our options for boat trips tomorrow.


Monday, August 8, 2016

Day 170 - Yum, toasted marshmallows!

Antigua

What is it with tours and activities that they insist on starting so early in the morning? Today's 6am pick up was to climb the still active Volcan Pacaya which had last erupted in 2014. We were the last to be picked up and the downside to this is you get the worst seats, so we were both jammed in the front with the driver. By the time we were collected and then stopped for a coffee it was 7am before we finally left town. 

At Pacaya the the steep climb started immediately and continued that way for most of the 2.8 kms to the top. There were kids on horses following us up, who kept asking if we wanted a "taxi". They started asking right from the start, and were right on our heels all the way up, M had to tell them to back off more than once, they were like vultures waiting for someone to fall over or give up.


When we reached the top we stopped to enjoy the views, then walked down to the recent lava flow which had unfortunately only completely cooled a couple a couple of months ago, meaning we didn't get to see any flowing lava. However there was just enough warmth left in some spots to roast some marshmallows, which were quite tasty, though a bit gritty if we touched them on the hot rock. 

After marshmallows came the Lava Shop, which has been called the shop in the most obscure spot in the world. Surprisingly it didn't sell any cold drinks for the now quite hot climbers but rather jewellery made out of lava crafted by locals, none of which looked very appealing. 

The descent back down the volcano was quite slippery and we didn't envy the people we met just starting the trek up as the sun was warming things up further. 


That evening we did something we that's become almost a custom for us - we visited an Indian restaurant. The food was tasty but the portions were small, once again a nice change from standard Central American fare.





Sunday, August 7, 2016

Day 169 - That's better, back to some nice temperatures again

San Salvador (El Salvador) to Antigua (Guatemala)

We boarded our 6am bus to find that we were the only gringos, we were surprised that none had come through on the bus the night before, as there had been 11 of us on the bus the previous night.

That should keep the sun off
The border crossing into Guatemala was easy with the bus drivers taking care of it, and we arrived into Guatemala City at lunch time.  The Tica bus has a shuttle service between the city and Antigua which is incredibly convenient and comfortable, we almost felt like we were on an organised tour the way Tica managed the transport through the last few Central American countries. Unfortunately though being the only tourists on our bus heading to Antigua we had to pay a premium for a private shuttle, but it was great service nevertheless.


Antigua was similar in some ways to Granada, with some lovely old buildings and churches made beautiful by their look of disrepair. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city and arranging a volcano trip for the next day. It was Sunday so the city was very busy, with lots of traditionally dressed people selling textiles and trinkets, we hadn't really seen this level of tourism related activity for a while, but here it was back in full force. It did quieten down later though as the day trippers from Guatemala city started heading home, making the streets very busy for a while.


Antigua is in the mountains and surrounded by volcanoes, so the air was cooler and dryer, it's great to have left the humidity and heat from Nicaragua behind.



Saturday, August 6, 2016

Day 168 - One day of the year

San Salvador

We had decided on a couple of sights to visit in San Salvador - El Bosqueron volcano crater and Joya de Ceren archaeological park. However our one day in San Salvador was a major public holiday for the city, it was San Salvador day to honour the city's patron saint, so the archaeological park was closed - just our luck!

We knew it wasn't safe to hire a taxi off the street and another passenger on the bus had given us the number of a trustworthy driver in town but he didn't answer his phone (it was a holiday). The woman at the desk of the hotel was very helpful and arranged a driver who would take us up to El Bosqueron and wait for us. El Bosqueron is a huge cylindrical volcano crater with another small, perfectly symmetrical volcanic crater inside the other crater, not too far from town and easy to walk around.


We were surrounded by Salvadorean families enjoying their day off, the place reminded us in some ways of the Dandenongs on a Sunday - lots of day trippers, some nice looking restaurants with great views along the road that led up the mountain, plenty of souvenir shops, etc. We were the only gringos there but felt completely safe, families having a day out are pretty much the same all over world, it was good to go and see something with a real "local" atmosphere.


We made it back to the car just as the rain started. Our driver told us it was related to the cyclone from Hurricane Earl that had been crossing Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. We have been keeping an eye on this hurricane and hoping it will have done its thing before we arrive further north in the next week or so.

After arriving back in town we decided to visit some of the holiday festivities. First though we went back to our hotel and removed anything that could be possibly be stolen from us. We walked the few blocks through the crowds and it felt quite liberating walking through that large amount of people, not needing to worry about being pickpocketed. From what we could tell there was a huge fair on, something like the Melbourne Show but without animals. It was packed, so we decided we didn't need to go in. We spent some time wandering the area near our hotel (the area was known as the Zona Rosa) which we had been told was safe, as long as we didn't move too far from the hotel, and ended up at a nice bar overlooking the main road to have a couple of drinks.




Friday, August 5, 2016

Day 167 - No murders, just lots of rain

Leon (Nicaragua) to San Salvador (El Salvador) via Honduras

As part of our Tica Bus ticket we were to be picked up around 11.30am by a taxi to take us to the bus, which was starting from Managua and stopping to pick up passengers in Leon on the way. Around 12:30 we were finally collected and dropped on the side of the road in the heat to wait for the bus. Fortunately we spotted what looked like a small waiting room and we waited in there with a growing group of other gringos who had all been told different times they needed to be there .... one couple had been there since 9:00am, the bus finally arrived about 1.30pm.

Next stop was the exit from Nicaragua on the border with Honduras, where we had to hand over US$20 each to cover our exit and entry. This was higher than we had read about, so we suspect some of the money had made it into someone's pocket. The thing with the Tica Bus though is that the conductor takes care of much of the border formalities, so on the Nicaraguan side the bus conductor took our passports and managed the process for us while we tried to find some shade to wait in.

The Honduras entry a little further on was different again where we didn't even leave the bus this time, is it really that dangerous out there? Honduras isn't classified as a safe country and has one of the highest murder rates in the world, so we just stayed on the bus and drove through some very heavy rain to El Salvador, which has a slightly better reputation than Honduras, but still has issues with violence.

By the time we reached the Honduras/El Salvador border it was dark. Here all luggage was removed from the bus so it could be inspected by customs. They decided they wanted a closer look at K's case - about 40 people on the bus and they chose her, is it because it had a combination lock? After the bag was put through the x-ray machine a couple of times, K and the case were taken to a separate room where they decided to remove everything from the case, finding nothing of interest of course. However they wouldn't let K do the repacking, so the case could barely be closed because of the mess they made. This mightn't seem like a big deal but when you've been living out of one suitcase for nearly six months everything has its place so it was very frustrating.

The scheduled arrival time at our hotel in San Salvador was supposed to be 9pm, but we finally arrived there around 1am. The hotel is owned by the bus company and rooms have a discounted rate if you're on the bus, so that you can have a few hours sleep and pick the bus up again early the next morning. Everyone had to be ready for at 5am departure, but as we thought it was a bit of a shame to be passing through San Salvador and not seeing anything, we had booked two nights. We did however starting to think we may not have made the right decision, as we were the only gringos on the bus that were staying on in one of the murder capitals of the world - everyone else was leaving the next morning.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Day 165 to 166 - Nothing on in Leon

Leon

Day 165

Our next main destination from here is Guatemala, but to get there by bus you need to travel through Honduras and El Salvador, which are known for not being very safe. We spent the morning looking in to the options. We ended up choosing the Tica bus, which goes through Honduras and into El Salvador on the first day, spends the night in San Salvador at a hotel owned by the bus company, then continues on to Guatemala City the following day. It was a shame to just sleep the night in San Salvador though, so we decided we should also spend the next day there to do some sight seeing before continuing.

After sorting that out we then booked to go volcano boarding, where you "surf" down the side of a volcano on a plank of wood. For this we went with Quetzal Trekkers, for a couple of reasons - first, you get to do the volcano twice, and secondly all profits go to support underprivileged kids.


There had been a big thunderstorm overnight so the temperature was more bearable today. We wandered the streets and churches and generally felt more positive about León. The Museum of the Revolution was closed, but some of the old men that were part of the Sandinista revolution were sitting out the front and one of them showed us in to see some murals and hear some information (in Spanish) on the history of the place. We then paid to see the top of the cathedral which was quite different from any other we had visited, with white  domes and towers that you could walk around.


There was supposed to be a free walking tour at 4pm, so at 3:45 we turned up and were told to come back in 15 minutes. At 4pm we returned, only to be told that the tour had left and we should wait until tomorrow! We sat not far from the starting spot while waiting and didnt' see a group, so we think they may have just cancelled it but didn't want to tell us, it was all a bit strange.


Around 9pm that evening we received an email telling us that the volcano boarding had been cancelled due to lack of numbers, shame we weren't told earlier as we would have booked with someone else .... León really doesn't want us to experience much!

Day 166

This morning we went to the Museum of Myths and Legends which was based at the old jail that had held and tortured many political prisoners during the civil war. The jail was filled with mannequins, life sized and larger, made up to represent many of the Nicaraguan myths and legends, including one memorable figure of an ugly woman with huge breasts who smothered men to death.

We spent the rest of the day taking it easy in the heat, and doing some research into our planned destinations over the next couple of weeks.

One of the things you have to love about the local people in Central America is how like the Aussies they don't like to use too many unnecessary words. When you meet people here its not the normal buenos días, buenas tardes or buenas noches  - just "buenos" for all times of the day, makes life so much easier as you don't have to think about what time it is before greeting someone!